//------------------------------//
// Summons to Canterlot 
// Story: The Return of Unicornia 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//



"So let's go through this one more time."

"We've been over it like a million  times, Twilight! We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, and got this sweet castle! End of story!"

"Yes, but why?"

"I dunno, sugarcube. Maybe it's just your new house and there ain't nothin' more to it than that."

"I must say, speaking strictly on aesthetics, there really doesn't need to be more to it. It's all simply divine!"

"I agree with Twilight. And Rarity. And Applejack. And Rainbow Dash. And Pinkie Pie. Oh, and probably Spike."

"As princess, I've been chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. So why would the Tree of Harmony want us to sit in a castle in Ponyville? It doesn't make any sense."







After Twilight brought up her being a princess chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria, their cutie marks on the back of their thrones began to glow, fired a bolt of energy at the floor and a circular disk made of rock rose from the floor.  Very soon a map of Equestria appeared on the disk, shocking all of them. 

Spike, who had been sleeping, was woken up by the noise.  He took a look at it and asked, "Is that new?  I like it." 

The six were shocked that such a thing would just appear in their throne room after something happened with their thrones that made absolutely no sense.  The six would be surprised when their cutie marks began to glow and then replicas of them flew off of their flanks and began to circle over Canterlot.  It was unlike anything they had ever seen and they all wondered why this was happening. 

Fluttershy was the first thing to say anything, "If we're in Ponyville, why are our cutie marks over Canterlot?"

Twilight replied, "I don't know but I'm pretty sure the map wants us to find out.  Perhaps something is going on with Princess Celestia that we all need to take care of together." 

Rainbow sighed, "I was hoping we'd get to go somewhere awesome but we should get going."

Twilight agreed, "Come on girls.  The sooner we get to Canterlot the sooner we can find out what this is about."  

Spike noticed that it seemed like he wouldn't be going.  "Can I come too Twilight?  You never know, you might need me." 

Twilight replied, "I don't know Spike.  If you were needed I'm pretty sure the map would have summoned you too somehow." 

Spike sighed in frustration and left the throne room.  Twilight got off her throne and suggested, "Let's get going ladies.  Hopefully this won't be anything big." 

She headed towards the exit and her friends followed suit.  As they were heading towards the train station, they all couldn't help but wonder what this was all about but it was Twilight who had the most concern.  As a princess of Equestria, it was her job to spread the magic of friendship and she began to wonder if maybe a foreign dignitary was there and them and Celestia were arguing and they needed to get them to see eye to eye.

Once they got on the train, Twilight's friends began to discuss ordinary things but Twilight was still deep in thought.  Other things began to cross her mind, what if the map was sending her and her friends to Celestia first before having to go and perhaps fight some villain.  At that point she was in no mood to deal with any villains after everything she had to put up with when it came to Tirek.  She sighed, "Hopefully this won't be something dangerous.  Who knows, maybe the royal stylists are fighting." 

Once they arrived in Canterlot the six rushed right towards the palace to see what was going on.  Once they got to the throne room Princess Celestia addressed them, "Thank you for coming.  Something has happened that I never imagined would happen." 

Twilight replied, "About that, something strange happened in the throne room this morning."  Celestia nodded and Twilight continued, "Our thrones shot some energy into the floor and then this map showed up and then replicas of our cutie marks were floating above Canterlot." 

Celestia gave her a smile, "That is odd but I think I know why, it sent you here because something strange has happened."  She paused before her voice became more filled with concern, "Unicornia has returned." 

Twilight looked at Celestia with concern as this reminded her so much of when she was notified that the Crystal Empire had returned.  Unicornia, like the Crystal Empire, was something that she had never heard of.  "Unicornia?"  Twilight commented. 

Celestia began, "Ok, this is going to take a while.  Fifteen hundred years ago, Unicornia was ruled by a powerful pony, a pony who at one time was very close to me." 

Twilight asked, "Close, how close?"

Celestia continued, "She was a protege of mine, easily the most powerful protege I ever had and we had what one would consider a mother/daughter type relationship.  Her powers rivaled mine and after she studied enough, exceeded them by a lot." 

The six gasped in shock that there could be a pony who had powers that could actually surpass Celestia's.  Rarity asked, "Her powers surpassed yours?"

Celestia again continued, "Yes."  She looked directly at Twilight and added, "Twilight, while you have always been studious, this pony was obsessed with studying, her hunger for knowledge was insatiable.  I always wondered why but ultimately I discovered that she was power hungry and wanted Equestria for herself." 

Rainbow asked, "Ok but what does this have to do with this Unicornia place?" 

The memories of what happened so long ago began to fill Celestia with sadness, "Well, to satisfy her desire for power, I gave her some territory to rule over and it wasn't long until she began to do very unethical and highly illegal things to those who became her subjects." 

Fluttershy asked, "Uhm, if it is ok with you, what did she do?"

Celestia's voice became more sad, "Well the territory I gave her was inhabited solely by unicorns and I will tell you why.  During her youth, she was jumped by an earth pony and pegasus stallion.  That caused her to believe that only unicorns could be trusted.  She was happy over the demographics of her territory but ultimately she grew to believe that only mares could be trusted so she began transforming all the stallions into mares.  She began to view all stallions as inferior, dangerous and undeserving of life."  Celestia then began to cry, "I will admit, I was mad when she was jumped but I never thought she'd spiral into the madness she did." 

Applejack became curious about something, "Your Majesty, Ah agree what happened to her was bad but how does a unicorn have that much power?  How does an ordinary unicorn gain so much power?"

Pinkie added, "Yeah, how could she have so much magic?"

Celestia sighed, "Thing is, she was born an Alicorn and....and her parents" 

Twilight interrupted, "And her parents were Alicorns too?"

"Her mother was.  I can't remember much about the father because he wasn't exactly that involved in her life."  Celestia replied.

Fluttershy asked, "But if they're Alicorns, what happened to them?  Why aren't they around?"

Celestia had a nervous look on her face as she replied, "I'm not sure.  When they went missing I always had a feeling that she may have done something to them but I never brought it up because, because....." 

Twilight commented, "You were afraid she'd do something to you too?"

Celestia sighed, "I was and that did scare me a bit.  To be honest, I think the only one who had powers that were equal to hers was Discord and even he was a bit nervous around her." 

The six knew of Discord's powers and were surprised that anypony would cause him to be nervous.  Something then crossed Twilight's mind, the return of Unicornia.  She asked, "Princess Celestia, you brought up Unicornia returning.  What happened to it?"

Celestia replied, "Well after my sister and I learned about what she had been doing, we headed there with the Elements of Harmony to depower her and reverse her spells but when she saw we had the Elements, she cast a spell that caused Unicornia to disappear and her with it.  Her power was everything to her and she wasn't about to give that up."  Celestia paused before beginning to sob, "I never imagined the protege I loved the most would turn out like that.  I practically raised her yet she turned out nothing like me." 

Twilight could tell that this protege meant a lot to Celestia, that she meant more to her than anypony else.  She embraced her and asked, "About this pony, what is her name?"

Celestia continued to sob, "I can't bring up her name.  Saying it hurts too much, it brings back the memories of our closeness, the love I had for her, then her desire for power, then the things she did to so many ponies and ultimately her disappearance." 

Applejack then asked, "So your Majesty, where is this Unicornia place?  Where are we going and what do we have to do?"

Celestia replied, "It is probably fifty miles to the south of Appaloosa and it is enclosed in a dome like the Crystal Empire is to keep the outside elements out." 

Rainbow asked, "Princess Celestia, if she is this powerful, aren't we going to need the Elements to go kick some serious flank and reverse....." 

Celestia flared up her horn in anger and cried harder, "You will not be kicking serious flank!  You will not harm her!  Just go and....and try to get her to see the error of her ways and get her to reverse those spells."  She then calmed down and added, "And see if maybe she would want to reunite with me." 

At that moment Twilight realized how truly special this pony was to Celestia.  While she had always thought she was Celestia's most beloved protege, she learned that there was one from her ancient past that she seemed to love more than life itself.  She asked, "But how do we do that?  If she is so powerful she makes Discord nervous why would she listen to us?"

Celestia began to think about what would be the best way for them to deal with such a powerful pony and then turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, I know you are close to Discord.  Is there any way you could maybe summon him if you six get into trouble down there?"

Fluttershy replied, "I could, all I have to do is yell 'Discord!'  Why, do you think he would be able to help us?"

Celestia replied, "Actually yes, he is probably the only one who could get through to her." 

This shocked the six as they wondered why Discord might be able to get through to her.  Twilight asked, "But why Discord?  How in Equestria could he get through to her if she has this hatred of males you brought up?"

Celestia replied, "Twilight, he was the one male she trusted and was actually close to.  I remember how distraught she was when Luna and I......"  She then began to sob again, "Why didn't I have her talk to him when he was causing so much chaos?  All of this could have been prevented."  She then turned to Fluttershy, "If you six can't get through to her, you have to get Discord to help."  She then turned back to Twilight, "Now go, the sooner we get this taken care of the better." 

Twilight and her friends then took off towards the train station to head towards Appaloosa.  They knew that the journey from there to Unicornia would be tough but it was something that had to be done.  The six couldn't help but wonder why Celestia was so against them using the Elements against this pony when she was going to use them against her herself in the ancient past.